Yüan
1279-1368

When China fell to the
Mongols, it became part of a vast empire that stretched northward into Siberia
and westward to Europe’s Danube. As Kublai Khan completed his conquest
of China, he moved his capital to Dadu, today’s Peking. Adopting China’s
traditions, Kublai declared himself the Emperor Shih-tsu and his dynasty
the Yüan.

Mongol rule fell heavy
upon the conquered. The examination system was scrapped, and no Chinese
could occupy any key bureaucratic position. The native people were relegated
to a position beneath not only the Mongols but any foreigner. Peasants suffered
most. Many were pressed into military service or forced labor. Others were
stripped of their land so that the Emperor could grant it to those he favored.

As the empire neared its
end, epidemics (contemporaneous with the Black Death in Europe) swept the
land. Severe weather battered and scorched those who did not succumb to
disease, and poor government following Kublai’s death yielded to widespread
gangsterism.

Courtesy The University of Michgan Art Museum

Until the Mongols arrived, China was,
in the words of one historian, “as familiar to the West as the other
side of the moon, except that the moon was an established fact.” Yet
amid the misery of Mongol rule the West first learned of this ancient and
civilized China. Because it was made a part of the vast Mongol empire, news
of it spread to Europe.

When two Italian merchants
arrived in Cathay (as the Europeans called China) in 1268, word began to
pour forth. Fame came to one of their sons, Marco Polo, who first appeared
in Kublai’s court in 1275. He spent twenty years traveling China on
behalf of the Great Khan. Upon returning to Italy, his tale was recorded
by a friend. Reprinted, it spread through Europe causing a sensation as
it went. Still, the West was another four hundred years from getting to
know China well.